Point of No Return
by Fira Astrali
Summary: Sloan is missing, maybe dead. The child soldiers are dropping like flies. Only Wolf and Nikki haven't lost hope. Armed with the knowledge of Red Gen's horrific plans for Sloan, the two are the only chance she has to stave off her Spec Ops destiny.
1. Chapter 1

A/N: Well, here it is sports fans! This one might be on the short side compare to my other fics. Still, I hope you enjoy it. A little bit of housekeeping before we get started. First, I've enabled the anonymous reviews for those with no log in. I'm looking forward to hearing from people who aren't subscribed to the sight, but abuse of the feature for flaming will get it disabled, so keep that in mind. Second, I don't like the idea of requiring a certain amount of reviews to update, however I'll let you know that the more reviews I get, the quicker I'll probably end up updating.

And a note for new readers, this is the third in a trilogy, so if you want to understand what is going on, I would suggest reading The Wolf of Sector Y, followed by An Old Friend's Request.

All original characters, locations, and themes are copyrights © Fira Astrali, all others are copyrights© Nintendo. Now that the formalities are over, enjoy!

Grass crunched and shattered like glass under Wolf's feet. He walked slowly, not sure where he was. He was standing in a clearing filled with the crystal grass that broke underfoot. It was sheltered by glass trees with small, heart-shaped leaves. The trees spouted an occasional air lily from their trunks. Every piece of 'vegetation' rippled gently in a wind Wolf couldn't feel. The tiny gust made the leaves rub against each other and sing. The sky above was pitch black without so much a star to light it, while the soil beneath his feet and everything that grew out of it was glowing with an unnatural, powerful light. It was like the world had been inverted. He reached out for a nearby hanging flower, wanting to understand the strange place.

"Ah!" he hissed, and snapped his hand back protectively. A thick trickle of red ran from his finger where it had made contact with the flower's razor sharp petal. Some of his blood stayed on the flower, glistening like dew. He watched it, incapable of tearing his eyes off of the single red drop. It hung on the very tip of the petal like a tear. Then, with a sound like a far-off bell chime, it dropped from the tip into the infinite space of light beneath Wolf's feet. The blinding light that came up from the soil seared him out of his trance, and he stumbled back away from the plant. He cradled his pricked hand, which was bleeding much more than it should have.

He was so preoccupied with his injury that for awhile he didn't notice the small noise that could be heard within the stillness of the forest. When he finally did hear it, his ears pricked up to determine its source. It sounded like tiny pebbles bouncing off a larger rock. Something about the noise compelled him, like the drop of blood left on the petal, and he found himself following it.

The sound came from beyond a small field of shoulder height grass that blew in the wind, making a sweet sound. He could see the blade sharp edges that each stalk had, but in him was a powerful, irrational feeling of need to find the source of the stone sound, and so he walked into the grass without hesitation.

The glass grass was merciless. Wherever it touched, it sliced through him like he was made of water. The thick clothes and space-worthy fullsuit he wore on missions offered no protection. He could feel his blood spread over every part of him, but he refused to stop. The pain seemed so close and biting, and at the same time so unimportant. The spellbound feeling held him tightly. He had to know what was beyond the razor grass.

Suddenly, he stepped out of the field. There was no slow drop off of grass, it simply ended. He was again confronted by tall crystal trunks, but these had no leaves. They look to be completely dead, the light in them only a tiny glimmer compared to the brightness of the trees on the other side of the field. He could see little wisps of shadow curling in an out of the trees. He could hear them talking, lamenting about their sad lives, when at the same time they possessed no mouths to speak from. Hollows that were meant to be eyes turned on him, regarded him for a moment, then floated aimlessly away.

Wolf felt an incredible desire to turn back, to go back through the painful grass just to escape such an awful place, but the rock sound could be heard louder now, and his desire to know won out over his fear. His feet started forward, seemingly of their own accord. They led him to a sheltered spot where the dead branches intertwined overhead to create a thick canopy of glass that locked out the black sky and gave a little more light to the secluded place. Here the short grass shimmered with a little more life, and a large boulder sat in the middle of the clearing. It was not made of glass, but true stone. Sitting on it, with her legs pulled up under her chin, was a small human figure with raven hair. Even though she was facing away from Wolf, he knew she was a girl. She was picking up a handful of pebbles and dropping them onto the rock.

"Hey!" Wolf called to get her attention. She stopped her pebble dropping and turned around to look at him. Wolf gasped when he saw her face. "Sloan!"

She smiled when he recognized her. She looked healthier than he had ever seen her. Her gauntness was gone, and her clothes were of better quality than Wolf had ever seen her wearing. Her hair was long, flowing over her shoulders. Nowhere on her body was the mark of abuse, recent or past.

"Sloan, I was so worried…"

She answered by holding her hand out for him. "Daddy," she said.

Wolf didn't pause to think of what she had just called him, he walked forward, eager to take her hand and lead her back to where she would be safe. His hand touched hers. A gunshot went off in his mind. A young girl screamed.

_Oh god, Kia._ Memories of death and blood filled Wolf's mind. A young dead because of him. He'd never let that happen again, no matter what. He wrenched his hand away. Sloan's broad smile faded a bit.

"Daddy," she said again, holding out her hand with a bit more urgency.

"Don't call me that!" Wolf snarled, pretending to be suddenly angry. "I'm not your father!" _I have to protect you. If you come with me, you'll die._

"Daddy!" Sloan held out both her hands for the retreating Wolf.

"Never! I'm not your dad! You're not my problem!" _Here you'll be safe, you've got to stay away from me._

He felt a gentle touch on his shoulder. He turned around, ready to confront Sloan again. But the creature that stood before him now was not the healthy little girl that had been sitting on the stone. Her head had been shaved clean, and she was dressed in a ragged military uniform. Every visible limb was covered in cuts and festering sores. Her eyes with completely pale blue, like a Hunter's. She held a long, serrated knife above her.

"Wolf," and with all her might she brought it down on Wolf's head.

Wolf cried out in terror, but did not stay unconscious long enough to feel the knife. He jolted from his nightmare, body covered in cold-sweat. He looked around the room he had been given, to make sure the Sloan of the dream had not followed him into reality. Automatically he reached for the bandana lying on his crude bedside table. It was the black one with the skull and crossbones decorating it, the one that had once protected Sloan's barcode from prying eyes. It had been the only trace of her that searchers had found in the three long, agonizing days since her disappearance.

Hauling himself out of bed, he crossed the small room, dark due to the lack of windows and the single yellowed bulb that was its only illumination, and turned on the sink. He ran the water for a time, until some of the brown colour faded from it, then splashed it on his face in the hopes of erasing some of the images from his dream. He grabbed his black t-shirt from the foot of the bed and slipped it on over his ragged head. He didn't both with his coat, despite the late night chill that still hung in the air.

As silently as he could, he descended the several flights of creaky metal stairs it took to get to the ground floor. As this warehouse had been retrofitted by illegal immigrants, the original stair system that provided only one extra floor had been torn down in favour of more floors close together. Then, somehow they had found the materials to section the floors into many small, squat dwellings that were about the size of the average bedroom. They conducted their entire lives inside the little abode. In the wake of the emergency move, some families were actually sharing these tiny apartments to make room for the children to occupy the ground floor.

Wolf's private room was on the highest floor and considerably nicer than the average, even if it wasn't any larger. It had a real bed, running water, and a door instead of a sheet of dirty cloth or tarp. He found it extremely uncomfortable sleeping there, surrounded by what the locals would call luxuries, and desperately wanted to get back to the _Nicell_. He had only stayed at the warehouse in the hopes that he could be there when Sloan would come back. Now the 'when' was starting to become an 'if'.

Wolf heard coughing from one of the small rooms nearest him. Pulling back the curtain, he found Xannon bent over one of the more sickly children, giving him water via a damp cloth. The little fennec's body shook with an illness he had been fighting for days, and every time Wolf saw him, he seemed a little weaker. The worst part was that he was not the only case. Quite the contrary, in fact. Over half of the kids rescued had come down with some sickness or another, the severity dictated by the strength of the child or lack thereof. The warehouse was not nearly as clean as the one that Xannon had left, and so disease ran rampant for all the inhabitants. Some of the locals tried to help heal the children, but they knew that their presence would only make it worse.

Xannon glanced to her left and noticed Wolf watching her.

"The searchers came back awhile ago, but you were asleep. I haven't seen you sleep so soundly in days, so I decided to leave you," she told him without looking up from her work. Wolf thought of his nightmare, but said nothing of it to Zindi.

"I figured as much." There was a pause. He didn't bother to ask if they had found anything. If there had been even the faintest trace of her, Wolf was sure that Zindi would have woken him. He turned and began to leave the room, only to stop at the threshold. "I'm going back to the _Nicell_ in the morning," he said casually. "I thought that maybe we could find some clues, the tracking system on the ship is pretty good, and the AI is pretty smart, she'll…" Wolf's voice trailed off. He heard Xannon pause for a moment, then the boy whined for more, and she continued with her task.

"I suppose that might help, but it's already been three days, Wolf, I don't think…" another stop. No one seemed to be able to finish their sentences. "These children need to be moved again," she told him plainly. "They can't survive like this. They need to go somewhere else. I was thinking Elise, that planet is just on the edge of the Red Zone, so the Outlanders can help them there. I know people who are sympathetic to our cause, they will give us a ship, but it won't be big enough for them all."

"We can always use the _Nicell_, but what about Sloan? We need to find her before we leave," Wolf urged. Xannon sighed and turned away from the boy for a moment to face Wolf.

"These children are dying. They need to be moved. Now. I'm sorry, but Sloan is probably long gone by now. Whether she was captured by slavers or Red Generation, I would be amazed if she was still on this planet." She looked sadly up into his eyes. "I'm terribly sorry, Wolf, but mistakes were made, and now she's gone. You're going to have to let her go."

"No!" Wolf's cry echoed around the makeshift apartments. A quiet buzz of whispers and the poking out of heads from behind cloth-doors started as locals tried to find the fool was that was screaming his head off at such a god-forsaken hour. Wolf ignored their muttered protests, continuing to look straight into Xannon's eyes. "I'm not going to give up on her just like that. This is my fault."

"She was very sick, Wolf, she could have had a break-"

"No, I did this, I drove her away. Now she's in danger, I know it. It's my responsibility to find her, and I will."

"I don't think you can."

"I will." And with that he turned and left the little apartment. Xannon followed him only to the threshold, calling after him.

"Boolie is a big system, by the time you search all the planets she might be on, it will be too late!"

Wolf did not answer her, he just kept on walking. He was right, he had done this to Sloan, and he had to fix it. But Xannon was right, too, the children wouldn't last where they were now. He was on a deadline, and had no leads, and with every passing second, Sloan's precious time was slipping away.


	2. Chapter 2

Wolf hadn't bothered to grab his coat before leaving the ghetto-apartments, and was silently cursing his oversight. The wind bit at his arms and made him shiver. He wondered if Sloan was cold, too.

A small movement behind him called his attention. He had only been vaguely aware of someone behind him for a good 20 minutes. Originally he had assumed that it had just been an Outlander coming home from the night-shift, but after he had made a few turns and the person was still behind him, he began to grow suspicious. He stopped and glared into the darkness, frustrated by his blindness. Since he had taken off his cybernetic eye-patch for the undercover mission a few nights past and left it at the ship, he had been cut off from that piece of equipment for nearly a week. The shadow stopped when he did.

"Can I help you?" he hissed warningly. The dark outline of a body studied him for a moment, as if it could see more clearly than he, then it took a few steps forward, into Wolf's realm of vision. He relaxed slightly. The stalker turned out to be Nicola. She looked worn down, like a rabbit that had been chased for miles by a pack of hungry wolves. In their eyes a spark of hatred also glowed brightly. It had not been there before Sloan's disappearance, and Wolf knew that it was for him. "Shouldn't you be back at the warehouse?" Wolf asked irritably. She cocked her head in thought for a moment.

"Yes, probably."

"Then why are you out here following me?" Wolf asked, turning his back on her and walking away again. Nikki quickened her pace, and Wolf soon found her at his elbow.

_Where Sloan always was_. A pang went through his heart. What he would've given to feel that burst of annoyance he so often felt when she magically appeared at his side without him noticing, a feat that was supposedly impossible to complete.

"Lady Xannon wants us to give up on Sloan," she told him, "but I can't do that, and neither can you. I can see it in your face that you would never leave her." She fell into silence, her eyes flipping around wildly, hunting for the right words. "I will do anything to save her from King."

Wolf cringed. Everyone had known that Regis King had to be Sloan's abductor, but no one had been able to bring themselves to say it until now.

"What makes you think it's King?" Wolf croaked hoarsely.

"He pulled off her bandana. He knows it's yours, he took it off her to spite you. If a slaver had grabbed her, they would have kept it on because space pirates are worth big Calrii on the block. And besides…" Nikki looked up into the few bright stars that had broken through a hole in the smog layer. "If the slavers got her, we'll have no chance."

"Xannon seems to think that we won't find her either way," Wolf reminded her. Nikki rolled her eyes.

"Xannon doesn't think the way I do. There is always a way to achive the goal, honourable or otherwise."

They stepped from behind a building into the bright of the spotlights that surrounded the docks. Nikki seemed to tense under the light, but she continued to follow Wolf as he walked on.

The heat and the buzz met them as soon as they walked in the door. The usual characters of merchants and pirates walked around the wooden staging area, and for a moment Wolf was content to enjoy the energy. Then he remembered the desperate circumstances that had returned him to his ship.

"I'm hoping that Nicell will be able to locate the Punch Dot microchip that is buried in Sloan's wrist."

"A Punch Dot? How did you manage to get a chip in her? The implantation at Sector Y is extremely painful," Nikki questioned sceptically, unconsciously rubbing her wrist.

"It wasn't hard." He held up the wrist that donned his Wolfen control bracelet. "It planted itself in her as soon as she snapped this on. The bracelet records heart-rate and things of that nature, and the dot is what gathers the information for it. It's in every member of Star Wolf. I don't think she knows about it, though."

"And Nicell can track the chip anywhere?"

"Anywhere within a certain radius. If Sloan's on this planet, we'll find her." Wolf found the cargo bay doors of The _Nicell_ wide open when he reached the ship. He could she the slim figure of Sabre, fixing something near the open hatch. A much smaller, scrawnier figure that Wolf pegged as Fennec was watching her with intense curiosity.

Wolf found himself pausing when he caught sight of her. He wanted to turn back, to not have to speak to her about Sloan's disappearance. Guilt stabbed once again at his heart.

_More blood on my hands._

"Wolf?" Nikki prompted gently, unsure why they had stopped. His head jerked in her direction a little, so she knew he had heard. With only a few more seconds of hesitation, he stared towards them again. Fennec glanced up and saw them. Wolf grimaced as he saw the little boy reach up and pull on Sabre's overalls, pointing at Wolf and Nicola when he got her attention.

"Any news on Sloan?" she asked as soon as they were near. Wolf simply shook his head and continued on to the lift that would take them to Astrometrics. Sabre was about to press, but then noticed the troubled look on Wolf's face. She let them go without further questioning.

Panther was waiting in Astrometrics, nursing an injured hand. After the warehouse explosion, he had run into a group of Imperial soldiers on his way back to Xannon's safehouse. There had been few of them, and he had fought them off with his hand being the only injury. From what Wolf gathered, neither Panther nor anyone else from the raid had run into as much trouble as he and Nikki. He could understand why. Nikki had not been expected, But Panther wasn't surprised to see Wolf. He too question the team lead about the status of the investigation, but Wolf ignored him, calling on the ship's A.I. instead.

"Nicell!"

The complete hologram appeared on the Projection Podium. Her face was etched with worry. Just like Sabre to build in emotion and attachment algorithms.

"Yes, sir?"

"I need you to perform a search of the planet…"

"A progressive scan for Sloan's Punch Dot code? I've already started, but I haven't got anywhere yet. This planet's air is so dense with smog particles, the scan is having a hard time coming through. It's been hours and I've barely gotten outside of this dock."

"That's not good enough. Pump up the signal power."

"It's already at full, there's nothing…"

"Nothing isn't good enough!" Wolf roared. "Find a way! Sloan doesn't have days or weeks, I needed to know where she is yesterday!" at that he turned on his heels and marched back out to the lift. Nikki drifted after him, saying nothing. They both stood silently, side by side. Wolf could not bring himself to look at her.

"This is my fault," he said quietly.

"Yes," Nikki replied, "yes it is." Her simple replied cut more deeply than if she had screamed at him. Really, that was what he had been expecting when Sloan went missing. The fact that she had stayed unusually calm had begun to unzip his reality. Either she was holding back her emotions about her kidnapped 'sister', or the frightening lack of sentiment was because Red Generation had sapped it out of her, and she just couldn't find it in herself to be upset. This bothered Wolf even more, because he knew that was the road Sloan was destined for if King got his way.

"Maybe I should go back the safehouse. Maybe if I look around, I'll find something they missed."

"Maybe something the others missed, but not me. There looked to be some signs of an altercation in the dirt not to far away from the warehouse, but the victim didn't put up much of a fight. Seemed as if she started in a prone position. Other than that, there's nothing."

"Dammit!" Wolf hissed, fist slamming sideways into the lift wall. "There has to be something we can do!" Nikki glanced away.

"Unless some kind of clue falls into our lap, we're done for."

"Yeah, we're done for, and so is she."

XXX

She tried to move something, anything, but her body refused to listen to her requests. Her mind was a sharp as ever, snapped out of her illness by severe trauma, but she might as well have been brain dead for all the good it did her. Her whole body shivered. She felt like she was in a deep freeze thanks to the numbing film that had been applied to her entire naked body. Blood poured from her nose and mouth due to being dropped as they were loading her into the back of an imperially marked military van. Her face had smashed into the back fender, sending wracks of pain coursing through her, yet she could say nothing, do nothing, to ease it. Blood pooled in the back of her throat and choked her, but she couldn't cough and dislodge it, she could barely even manage to keep up a decent rhythm of breath, relying on her most deep-seated reflexes to keep her alive. Other than that, she was at the mercy of the two burly fennecs in the cab of the van, driving to what she was sure was a Red Generation training camp.

As terrifying a thought as her destination was, her mind gave precedence of her fear to the man she was staring at. Her eyes were the only thing left unfrozen -numbing film on eyes caused blindness, and they couldn't risk damaging such important cargo- and she had both them locked securely on a powerfully built, grey wolf who sat against the closed and bolted van doors.

Even though he was sitting on the van's dirty floor, he still managed to look refined, gentlemanly. A slight smile sat perpetually on his lips. Still, there was that air about him, the sense of evil in solid form, with a beating heart and a black soul. Regis King watched as intently as Sloan watched him, but with a more curious interest, while hers came from pure fear. He was studying her as if he had never seen her before, as if she had changed to the point that he almost didn't recognize her, even though it had only been six months since she had run away from the orphanage. Six glorious months, but eventually King had tracked down his prey, just as he always did. She could only wonder in terror at what waited for her at his hands. She was sure that every abuse she had suffered in Sector Y would pale in comparison to what was waiting for her.

"You're afraid," King said suddenly. It caught her off guard. She had never heard him speak so softly before. Still, she held her guard, it could be –would be- just another King trick. She waited for him to continue.

"You're afraid now, but you won't be soon. By the time your destiny has been realized, and your bio-programs have been brought online, you won't be afraid of anything ever again. But others, oh, others will be afraid of you." A light came into his eye that reminded Sloan of Wolf's nostalgic gaze when he had told her the story of his mother's books. That had been little more than a week ago. It felt like eons.

"You don't know what power feels like until you walk into a room of total strangers and they tremble at the very sight of you, at the thought of the awesome power you wield. Maybe I should dull down the emotion inhibitor program, so you can feel the satisfaction in the fear." King's eyes had floated away, as if trapped in a powerful memory. The yellow irises flicked back to look at Sloan. "You know, Wolf did us an incredible favour, taking you in. 14 years under constant assault and living in terrible conditions, and all that time your bio-programs never broke the surface, not even for an instant. Then, as soon as you reached Wolf's side and experience war first hand, they kicked right in. It was almost as if Wolf was the missing link, that fatherly connection spurring on your programs via your desire to please him." He chuckled to himself. "To think, my superiors were beginning to grumble about you being a failure. Had you not run away when you did, the entire operation would have been scrapped."

A look of terrible realization widened Sloan's eyes. If she hadn't run away, if she had just waited until her 18th birthday, none of this would be happening. King noticed the look in her eyes, and chuckled.

"Now don't look like that. Had the program been a failure, I'm afraid you would have had to succumb to an unfortunate accident around the station, one that would have regrettably claimed your life. Come now, do you really think that Red Generation would let a little time-bomb like you float around unchecked, carrying our most advanced and dangerous programs where anyone with a degree in Cognitive Engineering could get at them? No, no, for you it's either positive test results or termination. Either way you wouldn't have made it to 18 without us picking you up. You're just too dangerous for that."

The van had been slowing as he spoke, and was now at a stop. There were two hard bangs on the door as someone pounded their fist against it. King leaned forward. The sound of complaining metal filled the van's box as the rusted bolt was wrenched back. The doors were opened to a view of a low sky filled with dirt coloured clouds, and a thrashing yellow-grey ocean. Off in the distance, at the very edge of Sloan's realm of vision, was something protruding from the ocean, like an island of some kind. Sloan's heart jumped into her throat. This was where Sloan Dykstra would die and a new, soulless beast would rise from her ashes.

King took a deep breath of the salty sea air. He turned back to her with his usual pleasant manner. It was enough to make Sloan want to vomit.

"Oh, and don't go thinking that Wolf is going to swoop in and save you like he always has. No one is going to come for you, and if they do, they will be killed. If you still love Wolf as much as you thought he loved you, you'll pray that he stays far away from here." His eyes became very cold, making his smile seem even more dangerous. "You died the second you became my prisoner. The sooner you accept this, the easier your transition to Huntress will be." He leaned down until his lips were right next to her ear. She felt his hand on her raven hair. His touch was… gentle. What should have been a shudder could not manifest in her dead muscles. "Let go of your fear and your love, because soon you will shed those worthless feelings forever, and rise to be the superior being you were born to be."

And then he was gone. She didn't feel his hand slip away from her hair, or the slight wind of his head moving away, he simply ceased to exist next to her. He was replaced by the two guards that had waited patiently to take her away. They reached in, lifting easily her small, prone body. Sloan could do nothing to protest, could do nothing at all except silently pray that King was wrong, and Wolf was coming for her.


	3. Chapter 3

Wolf couldn't stand to stay inside the _Nicell_ for even another second. Desperate for air, he wandered out onto the scuffed wooden staging area next to the ship. He watched silently as a boom-crane guided by a grubby looking Outlander loaded wooden slats laden with supplies and cargo onto an ancient-looking space tug. It was streaked and pitted with the marks of service, with the white words _Void Runner_ painted across its black hull. It reminded him of ships from his childhood, when they were fresh and new, when honest work meant something and things weren't ruled by the people with the biggest gun. Where you turn away for two seconds and not have your children taken from you. He rubbed the bandana and thought of Sloan.

He had hoped that Nikki would take his hasty retreat as a hint and leave him to stew in his guilt alone, but he was not so lucky. She wandered out from the _Nicell's_ open loading bay hatch and found him. Without a word she took up a silent position next to him and craned her neck to watch what Wolf was watching.

"All we need is one clue," Wolf told her bleakly. Nicola leaned forward and said nothing as Wolf thought out loud. "One clue would give us something to go on. We know who has her. Well, we hope that we know who has her..."

"King has her," Nicola reasserted.

"So, in theory, if we could get to King, then we would be able to find out where Sloan is."

"I suppose, but I see one big problem with this theory."

"Only one?" there was just a hint of sarcasm in Wolf's voice. Nikki shot him a look and continued on.

"Just because we get King doesn't mean he'll tell us anything. My mind doesn't seem to be able to fathom Regis King breaking under interrogation. How do you plan on getting the needed information out of him?"

"Leave that to me, you worry about getting a hold of King." He turned and began to walk away, still hoping for some silent time alone.

"Where are you going?"

"Back to the warehouses, I'm sure Xannon wants me to help with her evacuation plans."

Nikki watched him go. Something about what he had said was bothering her. Xannon. Why was Lady Zindia's name important?

_Xannon…getting a hold of King…_

XxX

"No! I won't! Absolutely not!" Xannon cried in anger at her father. She looked at Eclipse like someone had just dragged a monstrous beast into the room. Eclipse had never seen anything quite like princess Zindia before. Her dress looked like it was made of gold that flowed over her body and trailed gently behind her. Her void-black hair was held back by gold clasps that seemed like they were floating in a shadow. The whole scene made her look like an angel, but was shattered when the eye reached her enraged face. Eclipse wasn't unused to such hatred, Unnaturals were one of the few things universally despised in the system.

Eclipse had been chosen for what she had been assured was a prestigious honour, the guarding of the princess Lady Zindia, hand picked by the Emperor himself. Lady Zindia did not seem nearly so impressed, and neither was Eclipse. If she had her way, she would have turned down her 'prestigious promotion' and went to battle with her brothers and sisters in arms. She was a bio-weapon, a creature of war. She had no interest in baby-sitting royalty.

"Xannon, listen to me, I'm doing this to protect you! You insist in running around, consorting with all the filth of the galaxy. Something must be in place when one of those vagrants finally decides to cause you harm!"

"They won't hurt me, father, and they most certainly aren't filth! And furthermore, I won't have one of those monsters following me around!" Xannon pointed her unkind words toward Eclipse, who promptly tuned her out. Listening to the abuse of such a stuck-up brat was useless. Someone from behind her stepped forward. Without seeing him, her mind registered the man as Regis King. He walked right up to the Lady Zindia in a very familiar way, one that she was clearly not impressed with. Still, she listened to him, and eventually the harshness in her face disappeared. She glanced over at Eclipse, who was still standing attention. Eclipse felt the tiniest stab of frustration when she saw Lady Zindia nod. War machine turned nanny.

XxX

The intensity of the memory sent her to her knees. Her head was spinning. Unnatural's memories were monitored, diluted, and wiped clean on a constant basis. But she hadn't seen the inside of a Memory Chamber since she became property of Xannon. Her body was wearing down against itself. This memory had surfaced so powerfully, she was overcome by it. The warmth in the tiny room, the smell of perfume in Xannon's hair, it was such an old memory, yet it felt like it was happening again. Every detail railed through her mind, including one that stuck around.

"Wait!" Nikki screamed, stumbling to her feet and running after Wolf. He was just on the threshold of the dock. Unhappy and impatient, he could barely manage to wait for her.

"What is it?" he asked, slightly irritated. It wasn't until then that he saw the state she was in. Her eyes were wild, and her chest was heaving as if she had just run a marathon, her hands were shaking. She looked as if she'd gone insane.

"We can lure him out with the promise of a sale!" she said, breathless with the memory that had invaded her usually static subconscious. Wolf blinked.

"What are you talking about?"

"King!" She looked at him, infuriated that he didn't understand. It took her a few seconds to realize that the usually frail, foggy memory was not so sharply clear for Wolf as it was for her.

"Lady Zindia never told you how we met, did she?" Nikki asked.

"No, never."

"I see. It was her father that introduced us-"

"Revenant Zindia introduced his daughter to an Unnatural?"

"I was _bought_," Nikki snapped, as if it was obvious. "Emperor Zindia had me brought in to be a bodyguard for his daughter. She didn't like the idea, but King was able to talk her into it. He also told her to _come back to him if she ever needed anything else!_"

"An interesting story, but I don't see how that helps us."

Nikki looked at Wolf like he was the crazy one. Her voice was full of her frustration. If only she could make the memory invade his reality the way it had invaded hers, then he would understand. "It helps us because it gives us away to bring him to us. I'm listed as a rogue unit, remember? That leaves Lady Zindia without a bodyguard."

"And that means that if she contacted him, he would be more than happy to discuss the possibility of a replacement," Wolf finished Nikki's thought with amazement in his voice. A smile lit Nicola's face for a moment, then slipped off as if it was to heavy for her lips to bear. Wolf allowed himself to bask in the sliver of hope for a moment, before a realization whipped it away. "We would need Zindi's help," he said, defeated.

"She will help us, she must," Nikki insisted. Wolf shook his head.

"You know as well as I do that her first priority will be those other children," Wolf replied heavily.

"She can't. Sloan will die otherwise..."

"And those kids will die if we run off to save Sloan. Zindi will not sacrifice the lives of so many to save only one."

"But what else can we do?"

A silence settled over the two of them, heavy and thick. There wasn't anything else, the signal scanning for Sloan's microchip had been boosted to its max, and could go no faster. Nicell and Sabre were searching for something else, anything else, to aid the scan, but they could only work so fast. Nikki's head dropped with defeat and exhaustion and inspected the scuffed wooden floor beneath her feet.

"If we save Sloan, we won't just be saving her life, we'd be saving all her future victims, too," she said quietly. Wolf's eyes were forced closed by the impact of Nicola's words. Sloan's future victims.

"What if we didn't involve Xannon?" He asked suddenly. "What if we just make it look like Xannon wants to see him? She needn't be involved directly. Then she gets to keep on with the kids, and we can go find Sloan."

"It sounds like a perfect plan, if you don't take into account the fact that Xannon will kill you if you go behind her back."

"We're not going behind her back, we're keeping out of her way. I have to go now, stay with Panther and Sabre and try to be helpful."

"She won't see it that way!" Nikki called after him. "Wolf!"

"By the time Xannon finds out about it, it will all be over," Wolf muttered to himself. Besides, Xannon wouldn't be angry with him forever if he acted. If he did what was 'right' and walked away, Sloan's death would be a little more permanent. Still, he had no idea how to send a message to King that would bring him out. He had known Xannon long enough to be able to mimic her in a letter. It would be short and sweet, as always, but how would he get it to his enemy? He touched the comm. button on his control bracelet. Sabre's voice answered his call.

"Yes, Wolf, what is it?"

"Do you think that you could hijack an imperial communications signal? I need something that comes from a more prestigious planet than this one."

"I can try, but just the effort would take power away from the scan for Sloan."

"That's alright, I don't think it will be much help to us anyways. Get the details from Nicola, she's coming up to help you now. Wolf out."

XxX

Xannon sighed deeply and left the room. The boy that she had been up with all night had just died, and she couldn't bare to look at him just then. One of the Outlanders, a wolf with blue-black fur, was silently waiting by the entrance, and took the child's body away as soon as Xannon left. Screwloose was waiting patiently by the door that led out of the wing set up exclusively for Xannon's children. He watched the wolf carry the dead boy away with his calm, lifeless eyes. It was something he had seen many times before.

"Have you seen Nicola?" Xannon asked him. Screwloose shook his head no, continuing to watch the depressing scene. "I need her help," Zindi said, rolling down her sleeves. She had not yet changed back into her power armour, and was still dressed in the Outlander clothes she had worn for the warehouse mission.

"And she needs yours, but she's not getting it," Screwy answered plainly. Xannon paused for a moment, staring.

"What?"

"You won't help to find Sloan. That's all Nicola cares about."

An angry spark appeared in Xannon's eyes. "Sloan is one girl. These kids need to be saved."

"So does Sloan." Screwloose cocked his head to stare unblinkingly at Xannon. "You forget that Nicola is still first and foremost an Unnatural. These kids don't mean anything to her."

"That's not true."

"You expect her to care more about kids that, to the eyes of an Unnatural, have no value, more than she cares about her own 'sister', simply because you say it should be so?"

Xannon glared at him, knowing he spoke the truth. Screwloose did not wilt under her angry look, neither did he get angry in return. He was an impartial creature, and didn't feel the clouding swing of emotions. Eventually, Xannon's glare faded into sadness.

"Wolf is looking for her too. He thinks it's his fault that she ran away. I would help if I could, but…" she looked behind her at all the children, some sleeping peacefully, others stricken with the diseases of poverty. "I can't sacrifice a thousand lives for one."

Screwloose did not answer. He knew that if Sloan was to become an Unnatural, saving her from that fate would save many more lives that what huddled in Xannon's metal haven, but he also knew that Xannon would not understand this. She had never seen a Spec Ops in action. She had never seen one single person level an entire, helpless village over the small stretch of hours between twilight and dawn. It was something that could not be fathomed until it was seen with one's own eyes. Xannon took his silence to mean an agreement.

"Well, my allies have confirmed that they will help us move the children to Elise, but it's a small ship. Hopefully Wolf isn't so wrapped up in his manhunt that he's forgotten his promise to lend us his ship."

"At the rate they are dying, we won't need his," Screwloose noted. Xannon grimaced.

"Please, Tomas, try to be a little more positive."

"Yes, My lady," he replied blandly.

The entry door to the warehouse door opened and shut, echoing the arrival through the entire structure. Xannon looked up and was relieved to see Wolf coming towards her, looking bothered. He still had not retrieved his coat, since dawn had broken and the sun warmed their side of the planet a little.

"Where did you go?" she asked him, trying to sound angry at him for storming off. "Where's Nicola?"

"Nikki's busy, I came back to see if you needed any help." He glanced behind him. "I saw you lost the kid. I'm sorry."

"And there are a hundred more just like him. I was just telling Tomas here that my friends have come through for me. How much space do you have on the _Nicell_?"

"Enough, when do you want them moved by?"

"Three days and half these kids will be dead, the ship is coming tomorrow afternoon."

_Tomorrow afternoon,_ Wolf thought angrily. His window was very quickly getting smaller.


	4. Chapter 4

There was a distinct taste of nerves in the air the afternoon set for the evacuation. Some of the crew from the assisting ship had come early to help with the mass departure. Among the small group was the captain, a face Wolf recognized.

"Cresenda," he said in surprise. She smiled in response. The two brothers flanked her just like last time, the same hard look on their faces.

"Hello again," she said in a neighbourly voice, "nice to meet under better circumstances, slight as the difference might be. Where's that little girl, hm?"

"She's… gone," Wolf replied, trying to keep his voice steady.

"Gone? Where in devil to?"

"She's been taken by Red Generation," Nicola snarled angrily. Wolf tried to ignore the burning feeling of Nikki's glare boring into the back of his head. She may be going along with Wolf's plan, but that didn't mean that she didn't hate him for getting Sloan into Red Gen's hands in the first place.

The news of Sloan's kidnapping somehow put a mischievous fire in Cresenda's eyes.

"Ah, a damsel in distress. I assume that a daring rescue will be part and parcel to this extraction?"

"No rescue," Xannon said flatly. Cresenda stared silently at her. The fire left her eyes in favour of surprise. She looked at Wolf for some kind of explanation. He couldn't meet her gaze. For the first time since he had met her she seemed off balance.

"I see," she murmured. Xannon nodded, businesslike.

"Yes, now, for fear of sounding cold, may we move on to the pressing task of saving these children's lives?" Another look was shot Wolf's direction, and this one he was more than happy to return. Cresenda and Xannon walked away together, the first carrying a worried look. Nikki went to follow, stopping just long enough to whisper in Wolf's ear,

"The message you wrote has been sent, Sabre will contact with his response." Wolf didn't so much as nod to prove that he heard, he wanted nothing that might make Xannon grow suspicious. He knew that she already suspected him, since he would be far too stubborn to just give up. Feigning submission was difficult, but he obediently followed the others. All he could do was wait and hope King would fall for his plan.

"I was thinking that we could all take two or three children, to make it look natural," he heard Xannon saying.

"Dear, this is Berman, it won't look natural unless you take five at a time."

"I'm afraid of taking so many groups of kids at once. You don't think the guards will notice?"

"Hmm, stagger them by about 20 minutes, families come and go through there all the time."

"Okay, well I want to get started right away. All the locals want to help, and they've dressed the children in a change of clothes. Wolf and Nicola, I want you to go ahead, make sure our way is clear. While we're loading the kids, you need to make sure that no one is getting suspicious."

"How are we planning to continually feed kids into one or two ships without anyone noticing?" Wolf asked sceptically.

"We're hoping that if we approach from different angles, we can use the huge crowds to our advantage."

"I hope you've got some hot babes to distract the soldiers while we do this," one of the brothers muttered. A wave of mumbled laughter washed through the room, even managing to provoke a smile from Xannon.

"I guess we can manage that," Cresenda kidded. A few names were shouted out in suggestion, and more laugher filled the room, lightening the dark mood. Wolf enjoyed it, but there was still that gnawing wish that Sloan could have been there as well. He glanced toward Nikki. Soon, Sloan would be enjoying these things again. Or else.

XxX

It took only a few hours to get things organized, but precious light had been lost. Everyone was itching to get going, including the children. They could tell that something big was happening. They all shifted uneasily, not sure whether to be exited or afraid. Wolf's heart grew heavy as he surveyed the group. It was noticeably smaller than when he had first arrived on Berman. He only hoped that this extraction hadn't come too late for the survivors. Nikki's voice slipped into his ear.

"Are we going, or are you going to stand gawking until we miss our chance?" Wolf didn't bother to look in her direction, dirty looks would just make things worse.

"I thought we were supposed to wait for Zindi's signal. Or are you not talking about the kids?" he asked her. She spared the huddle of children barely a glance, and Wolf saw a distinct lack of compassion in her eyes. It made him bristle. "I'm not walking off. I can help Xannon, and I can help Sloan at the same time, so that's what I'm, what we're, going to do."

Nicola clouded over and turned away, walking across the street and disappearing into the long shadows that had been created by the quickly setting sun. Wolf paid her no mind, he knew she wouldn't leave without him. He shifted impatiently and searched the crowd for Xannon. He wanted the sign so that they would get going. His plan took a certain degree of timing for it to work. The message that he had sent King in Xannon's name said that she needed another Spec Ops to replace the one she had lost, and that she was in the Berman area. If he wanted to talk about a sale, he was to meet her at the sea docks at dusk. Of course, there would be no Xannon to meet. After that, he really had no idea what he was going to do. He only hoped that he could use King's incredible love for messing with people's minds against him.

A waving hand drew his attention. Xannon was giving the signal to move out. He turned on his heel and walked up the dirt road. He wasn't expecting any trouble until they got closer to the docks, but he kept his mind open. Ever since he first became a Hunter's prey, he had always been watching, never completely sure they had given up the hunt.

His thought about the Hunters brought back snapshots of his dream, Sloan's eyes filled his mind. He was sure that it hadn't been a dream, but a vision. The abilities he had afforded him occasional glimpses into the future, abstract as they tended to be. He shivered. Visions he saw had a tendency of coming true. Did that mean that Sloan's destiny was set in stone, or did he still have a chance to change it? She hadn't actually killed him in his dream, was that a sign that he still had a chance? He snapped his fingers. He watched a small flame burn on his fingertips. It reminded him of what Sloan used to be to him, what she had become.

A hand fell heavily on his shoulder. Her reached for his weapon, but stopped when cold steel touched his throat.

"I thought you were supposed to be the eyes of the group, Wolf," Nikki snarled in his ear. Wolf's hand curled into a fist. How badly he wanted to take his anger out on her, but she was just too strong. She looked slight and fragile, but that was one of the things that made Spec Ops so dangerous. One of the many things. He pulled away from her, not afraid of the blade at his throat.

"Why don't you go the way you were told to, instead of shadowing me? For someone who hates me for losing her sister, you seem to spend a lot of time watching me."

"Only for the right moment," Nikki snarled back. "Just remember, if I didn't need you to save Sloan, you would have been dead as soon as I heard you'd driven her off."

Wolf only glared in return. He knew that was no lie. He simply jerked his head to the right, roughly the direction she was supposed to be heading in, and walked past her. he didn't give her another chance to sneak up on him, and in fact was super sensitive to every noise. Every few minutes he would glance down at his comm., hoping that the 'it's a go' message from Sabre had finally come. Every time he was disappointed.

Just as he had thought, the only people they came across were locals, although Wolf was sure that he had seen Hunter's eyes peering at him from the shadows. He paused for a moment about 300 feet from the space docks. There were several patrols loitering around the only entrance. They didn't look like they were on duty, but there was enough eyes that he was sure someone would notice something strange. The only way around them was through the local's market below the docks, and that was a gamble too, because the three exits from the market to the docks were always havens for guards looking to make trouble. He glanced to his right. Not far off, Nicola had paused as well. She had seen the same problem. Wolf waved for the group to stop. The signal radiated through the widely dispersed group and brought them all to a halt. He walked back to Xannon and Cresenda.

"What's the problem?" Xannon asked, exasperated.

"Way too many guards."

"We already planned for this problem," Xannon told him in a voice one would use on a toddler that had just said something incredibly stupid. Wolf bristled in spite of himself. This was the part of her personality that had he had forgotten. Any amount of stress, and she had the capacity to be incredibly condescending and nasty.

"One of them is going to notice an incredible influx of mixed breed families with kids that don't even look like their parents," Wolf told her as calmly as he could manage.

"Parents die every day, kids get adopted by other families."

"You really think that they'll accept that for everyone?"

"They're going to have to, I'm afraid."

"Unless you have another idea," Cresenda added. Wolf said nothing. He did have another idea, but it wasn't one that he wanted to try. He had recognized some of the older soldiers. Once upon a time, he had been friends with them, before the army had gone from protecting the people to abusing them. If he had to, he could talk to them and distract them. He stared at them silently for a few seconds, then he was distracted by one of the kids. The little boy was shuffling around, fear written all over his face, clinging to the hand of an adult. He was afraid that they would be caught on the way to the ship, that he would have to go back to Red Generation and lose the little taste of freedom he had been given. Wolf tensed, fear bubbling in his throat. He told the two women of his plan without looking at them, without drawing breath or pausing. They stared at him for a few seconds, not really sure what he had said. A smile spread slowly across Xannon's face.

"Wolf that's brilliant!"

_I was afraid you'd think that._ He turned without allowing her to say anymore, and returned to his place where he had originally spotted the guards. He looked down at his comm. again. Still no message. Maybe it wasn't coming. He looked for the face he had first recognized, a grizzly fennec named Graven. A slight smile crossed his face when he remembered the time he had spent with the man, but it quickly disappeared. That was ages ago, he was something different now, something dangerous. Wolf wondered if they knew to be looking for him. His sighed and ran his fingers though his headfur. One way or another, he was about find out.

There was some yelling as he walked towards them, the younger ones pointed their guns at him. Wolf didn't let his nervousness show. He was dressed like a mercenary, and this was business, emotions would only get in the way. He put his hands up and tried to look as nonthreatening as possible. Then he heard the voice he'd been waiting for.

"Oban?" Graven called. Wolf turned in his direction and looked pleasantly surprised.

"Graven? My god, I haven't seen you in ages!"

Graven walked over, pushing the others out of the way. He seemed just as happy to see Wolf as Wolf pretended to be for him.

"Ages, that's for sure, not since we were kids. How the hell have you been?"

"Ah, what can I say…" Wolf went on with his banter, not daring to glance at the groups of adults and children that went past at irregular intervals. Graven and the others that remembered Wolf were paying too much attention to their old friend to notice anything, and the younger ones couldn't stop the people for long without the authority of the senior officers Wolf had tied up. They talked about family, careers, what their lives had brought them. Wolf pretended to be envious when Graven told him his wife had just given birth to their third child. He got into the conversation, which was filled with lies from his end, and forgot all about the time.

He nearly gagged when he finally glance to his left and saw how low the sun had gotten. It was nearly hidden by the boxy horizon line, and the sky was a fabulous array of gold and purple. Graven followed his eyes to the skyline, and laughed a little.

"Beautiful isn't it? Berman's got some of the most amazing sunsets I have ever seen. Yep, that's the only way I can get though being stationed in this hellhole, look on the bright side. You know, I've only got a month left before I get to go home for a year and a half. God, I miss my family."

"That's great, sounds like you've been out here too long," Wolf sympathized. His comm. buzzed, and he looked down, expecting a note that said they had finished. His heart leapt when he saw the note was from Sabre. He opened it. Short and sweet to not draw much attention.

He's there.

He glanced over Graven's shoulder. He could see a few groups that were still coming. If he left now, the guards would lose their main distraction. The child soldiers might get caught. That would ruin everything that Xannon had tried to create. He glanced back at the receding sun. King was already at the docks. He was waiting for him. This would be the only chance he would ever have to save Sloan from a fate worse than death.

"Obie, are you okay?" Graven asked. "You look like something's wrong."

"What? No, it's just… I have to go."


	5. Chapter 5

Wolf felt Graven's eyes on his back, but he refused to turn around. His gut was twisting with the weight of his decision, but whatever he did, someone was going to be in danger, possibly die. Sloan was his responsibility, her pain was his fault. He didn't have a right to walk away from her. Nicola fell in step next to him.

"You made the right decision," she told him.

"I hope your right." The sea docks weren't too far away form the space docks, so they were able to walk. Wolf allowed his fear to slip away from him into the shadows. King had information that Wolf had to have, and one way or another Wolf would get it from him.

It was nearly dark by the time they reached the docks. Sea travel was both outdated thanks to space ships, and dangerous because of the unpredictability of the ocean. The sea gnashed around the poles keeping the docks out of the water, and it was incredibly acidic, so the lifespan of boats was cut down severely. Because of that, the docks had fallen into disrepair and were abandoned. This meant there was no one around to stop Wolf and Nicola, to tell them to go back. Wolf was glad, his nerves couldn't handle any more wrenches thrown into the plan.

They walked in silence through the abandoned port, envisioning it as busy as the space port was at that very moment. Some movement caught Wolf's eye, and he could see a tall man silhouetted at the very ends of the farthest peer. The once grey waters had been set ablaze by the setting sun. Around the tall man's feet, two creatures that were hidden by shadows churned like the waves in the unruly water. Nikki stopped Wolf, he could feel her body tense. Was that fear tensing her muscles?

"He knows that it's a trick," she said

"How can you tell?" Wolf asked. She pointed at the two beasts at King's feet.

"Those are Razorhounds. They are King's own personal creations, and their some of the fiercest beasts I have ever come up against. They're machines, so they never tire or get hungry, can survive in the most hostile conditions, and are undyingly loyal to King. He never brings them on business transactions, because everyone is terrified of them." She wrapped her hand around Wolf's arm. "They will rip you to shreds with a snap of King's fingers, so I hope you know what you're doing." Wolf nodded, pulling his arm out of her fingers. He hoped the same thing.

XxX

Sloan's head slammed down on the bars of her cell in frustration. She tugged uselessly at the handcuffs that shackled her to the bars. They were so tight they cut into her skin until her wrists bled. Her whole body shook with the effort of just one breath. Her head was shaved, and she had been forced to wear military fatigues, fatigues that were now covered in her own blood. She couldn't talk, couldn't think, she had been beaten so badly. Every part of her body screamed in pain. All she wanted was to die, to be free from the hellish agony that she had been driven into. Only they wouldn't let her. Every morning, they came, will a needle full of a slivery-blue substance. No matter how badly she fought, she always felt the stabbing hurt in her shoulder. Day by day the pain of the injection grew less and less, and that frightened her more than anything.

The first round of 'treatment' had come within a few hours of defrosting from the numbing gel. They had strapped her into a chair until she couldn't move, then they had started to inject her with something. The injection had blinded her with blistering pain. Her body had bucked against the restraints. She screamed until her own ears hurt. Still they didn't stop their experiments. Just thinking about what they had done to her made her sob. She wanted to die. She wanted it to end.

_Wolf,_ she whimpered in her mind,_ I need you._ She knew that Wolf coming to her rescue was a fool's notion, but it was the only thing keeping her alive. It was an hourly cycle between desperate need of her leader and bottomless hate of him. This was all his fault, he did this to her. If he hadn't wanted to send her away, she wouldn't have run, she wouldn't have been captured. She wouldn't feel this pain. But these thoughts always came with a feeling of infinite, unreal space around her. She was sure that the injections were skewing her thoughts and her memories against Wolf as much as they were prepping her body for her transformation. Some moments she was as sharp as the pain she felt, other times she could barely remember her name. Everything was terrifyingly fuzzy around her. She couldn't see her surroundings. She felt so intolerably isolated. It was all mind games, to wear down her already battered psyche. So far, it was working.

She felt the relief of pain around her wrists as a soldier unshackled her. Without the support of the bars, Sloan collapsed to the floor. She trembled from lack of food and water, and the copious amounts of drugs racing through her already overloaded system. The guard kicked her in the spine. She cried out, but couldn't get up to make him stop. He nudged her with his foot. The man spoke, but the words slurred together in Sloan's mind and made him incomprehensible. He grabbed her arm and wrenched her limp body to a standing position. He yelled at someone, and they yelled back. He began to drag Sloan. She couldn't tell in what direction she was headed, but she knew where she was going. The only time they unchained her was to take her to the room full of pain. She fought as much as she had the strength for, but her only reward was a savage punch to the face. The punch knocked her unconscious.

_Wolf, I hate you, I'll never forgive you for this… but I need you._

XxX

King smiled at Wolf pleasantly as he approached. He did not seem the least bit surprised to see him. Nikki stayed back. The hounds growled at him, but King called them to heel.

"Wolf, what a surprise! It has been a little to long, don't you think?"

"Where is she you sick bastard."

"Where is who? Really Wolf, for going to all this trouble to meet me, you should really make more sense. You know, if you wanted to see me, you could have just called, I enjoy speaking with you."

"How did you know that it wasn't the princess?" Wolf asked angrily. King smiled knowingly.

"Simple, Lady Zindia would never want another Special Operations Unit following her around. I don't think the she would have even taken the first one had her father not threatened her with multiple unpleasantries. I could only assume that someone had managed to hijack her number."

"Then why did you come?"

"Well, if someone went to all that trouble just to talk to me, I couldn't disappoint. Which leads me to the question, how did you manage to get a hold of her ID?"

"Why should I answer your questions, you still haven't answered mine."

This made King sigh. "I told you, I don't know what you're talking about."

"Yes you do, you know where Sloan is, tell me!"

"Sloan? Oh, yes, the black-haired girl. Well, I'm afraid that's classified."

"Well un-classify it you son of a…" Wolf had been slowly walking towards King, but had to stop. The two Razorhounds stood between their master and Wolf, glaring dangerously at the harasser. he hesitated, and King waved them off again. The two mechanical hounds trotted around the dock, never out of leaping distance of their master. King watched them move around.

"Wolf, don't get me wrong, I understand how hard it is for you to let go. I know what it feels like to spend countless hours trying to shape something into an amazing creation. Take my hounds, for example." He gestured to the closest 'dog', "You see the craftsmanship? You see how all the parts fit together so elegantly? They move like true animals. You have no idea how many hours I've spent on them.

'It's like you with Sloan. You've spent six months turning her into your sidekick. You've poured so many hours into her training, and you're angry that something you've worked on is just being taken away, with no explanation." His eyes glinting evily. "You're a mercenary, you want a mercenary, and rightly so. That's what we're making her. Now, she's already been signed for a two year contract with someone else, but after that is over, I'm sure we can strike some kind of a deal. You give us a weak little girl, a few years later you get back a strong, seasoned warrior."

"You steal a soulful, spirited kid, and I get back an empty husk of a bioweapon," Wolf snarled, gums curling back over dangerous incisors. King talked about her like she was an object, not a person, and he couldn't understand the relationship that had developed between her and Wolf. He just saw a science project. King shrugged as if they were talking about the sea and not a girl's life.

"You say tomato…"

Something inside Wolf snapped. The gentle shaking of his fingers due to rage had stopped. What he was feeling was something beyond rage. He couldn't even begin to explain the feeling rushing through him. King completely disregarded the value of another life. It made him hate beyond the bounds of the word. He launched himself at the white wolf, his sudden rage taking King off guard. He landed on him with a full-bodied tackle, with as much force as he would muster. Just as Wolf had hoped, King tried to stay up. The force of the two bodies striking was enough momentum for Wolf to try and use his powers. Locking eyes with him, he tried to force his way into King's mind.

He was in a hallway. It was dark, with only a few naked, yellowed bulbs hanging from the ceiling. Cells lined either side of the narrow hallway. Crusty red and black blotches covered the floor and smelled like rot. The stench made Wolf want to gag. Childish voices cried out, some for food or water, others freedom. Carefully, Wolf drew closer to the nearest prison. What he saw inside was a body with no soul. It was a thin wolf, older than most of the children that Xannon had taken in. He was lying on the floor with his legs tucked up near his chest. Despite this slightly defensive position, there was no intent to defend himself. He looked as if he didn't care about anything. The eyes that rounded on Wolf were pale grey pearls, devoid of all emotion. They lingered on him for a few seconds, then went back to staring at the ceiling.

A moaning sound from farther down the hall grabbed Wolf's attention. It filled him with the same urgent need that he had felt during his not-dream. He followed the noise, despite a distinct pull that fuzzed the edges of his vision. A spike of anger slipped through him. King was fighting Wolf's hold on his mind. Knowing he didn't have much time, Wolf ran in the direction of the awful noise. Faceless soldiers stepped out of his way to let him pass. He saw the origin of the crying up ahead. It was a young girl, battered and chained to the outside of a cell door. Her head was shaved bald. Her arms were covered in open soars and bruises and bloody wounds. She looked exactly like the Sloan from Wolf's vision.

Wolf looked around wildly. How old was this memory, and where was he? It looked like some kind of military base that had been retrofitted for Red Generation's depraved experiments. He wanted to help her, but he tore himself away, knowing the person in front of him was only an apparition. The real Sloan was in much more danger. He looked for an exit, some way where he could figure out his position. There was a roar of rage as King realized his intent, and Wolf's grip on the memory began to slip.

Ignoring his enemy, Wolf zeroed in on a narrow shaft of light at the very end of the hallway. He raced for it, knowing it was sunlight. The white at the edges of his vision began to creep in as King fought him. He ran faster, desperate to reach the light. The shaft was coming in from a dirty window set inside a door. Wolf burst through the door to the platform beyond.

What he saw took him off guard. There was nothing but water. It was all around him, on every side. He was in the middle of Berman's sea. He looked out in front of him, and saw a speck of land off in the distance.

He cried out in pain as a Razorhound's claws shredded his right shoulder. The pain, coupled with King's efforts to dislodge him, forced him to relinquish his grip on his enemy's mind. He clutched his wounds, trying to staunch the blood that was pouring from them. He stumbled backwards, trying to get away from the advancing hounds. He had found out what he needed, he couldn't die now.

To his surprise, King called off the dogs. The hound that had struck Wolf looked disappointed. Wolf stayed perfectly still, he didn't have enough strength left to do anything in his own defence. King's eyes were smouldering, and Wolf noticed a slight tremor in the man's hand. That made Wolf smug, knowing that he had pulled a card King wasn't expecting and had unbalanced the man.

"Now this is something I've not encountered before," he hissed. Wolf knew that King was deciding whether or not to kill him. He dared to glance into the shadows behind him. Nikki was as close as she could manage without being spotted, her weapons out and ready. He looked back just as King rounded on him.

"Listen to me very carefully, Wolf. At first, I found you interesting, and enigma, but not really a threat. After all, you're only a mercenary. But now I can see just how dangerous you really are. Stay away from Red Generation, and stay away from Sloan. If you come for her, it will just make things worse. If I catch you meddling in Red Generation affairs again, I will not hesitate to kill you." He turned and walked into the glare of the setting sun. A green flash lit the sky for a spilt second as the sun disappeared. In the fraction of a second that it had stolen Wolf's attention, King had disappeared. Somehow he had escaped, when the only way out was off the end of the pier and into the ravenous waves of the sea. Nikki came rushing over to him, clapping her hand over his injury.

"What the hell did you just do?! That was your plan? All I saw was you launching yourself at him and then getting ripped open!"

"I know where Sloan is.

This threw Nicola off guard. The pressure she had been applying on the slash marks lessened, but quickly redoubled again as she composed herself. "Yeah? And how'd you do that, read his mind? Where is she then?"

Wolf looked out into the sea. Nikki bristled. "I knew it. She's been under our noses the whole time. Bastard."

"We need to get moving, how do we get out there?" Wolf asked impatiently.

"Right now that's the least of our problems. If you don't get this looked at right now, you might lose your arm."

"We can't go back to the _Nicell._ Xannon will be there. I've got some emergency supplies in my pack, let's patch me up and get going."

"Wolf, we can't take on a Red Generation training base with you crippled. If we—" she was cut off by a high-pitched beeping coming from Wolf's comm. bracelet. He remembered the punch dot in Sloan that had been planted under her skin when she's first put her comm. on. It fed him real time info about her current status as long as she was on the same planet. He scrolled down through the pages until he found the source of the warning. His fears were confirmed.

"It's Sloan," Wolf murmured, filling with dread. "Her heart rate went through the roof, like she was having a heart attack. Now it's down in the red. She's yo-yoing all over the place." The colour drained from Nikki's face.

"They're Breaking Ground," she gasped.

"What?"

"They've already started. If we want to save her, we need to go right now. Tomorrow will be too late."


	6. Chapter 6

The quick patch job they did on Wolf was just that. It hurt so badly Wolf could barely think, but he had experience with ignoring pain. Any flexing tested the Laska synthetic skin coating that held his shoulder together. The were pacing around the dock, trying to figure out how to follow King. Wolf's whole body shivered with anticipation. Sloan was within reach, and he wasn't leaving without her. He prowled around they edge of the dock, where King had disappeared.

"What are looking for?" Nikki asked, "he's gone."

"I know that, but how?"

"I don't know, maybe its magic."

"If there's one thing I've learned, when someone makes an exit like that, there's always something hidden for the quick getaway. The more supernatural it seems, the more sure you can be that there's a reasonable explanation."

"Unless it's you."

"I guess we all have secrets." Wolf stared down into the frothing waves. He noticed that the waves didn't truly break against the pier. There was a rocky outcropping a little ways away that kept most of the water at bay. It was a foot or so lower than the pier, and it looked as if you could possibly fit a body between them. The outcropping quickly curved out of sight, but there was a possibility that it was a tunnel of some kind. King's escape route. Wolf called Nicola over and pointed out the gap between the rocks and the pier.

"You really think he could get in there?" She asked.

"It's King, I don't doubt it for a second. It could lead to the base, or it could be nothing and it'll drown us when the tide comes in."

They looked at each other for a few long seconds.

"I'll go first," Nikki said determinedly, zipping up the black jacket she had put on over her vest. Wolf reached to ask her to reconsider. She looked at him with blazing eyes ringed with gold. "The tide is coming in, and Sloan doesn't have time for us to waste talking about this," she hissed in the same raspy voice she had used during the mission to blow up the chemical warehouse. She walked purposefully to the end of the dock, stepping off like it was nothing. As she fell, she turned in mid-air, her wrists crossed over her chest. No splash followed her trip, so Wolf ventured nearer the edge.

"Come on," Nikki's echoing voice called from somewhere below him. Larger and less agile than the Special Operations soldier, Wolf's entry wasn't so graceful. He couldn't understand how King, a man with a build very similar to Wolf's, could slip in the way Nikki had. After lowering himself into the crevice, he found nothing to greet his feet. He didn't fancy a drop that he couldn't get back out of if King was lying in wait for them. A waved lapped at his back like the tongue of some great beast. The rising tide snapped to his mind with an unwelcome jolt, pushing him into the tunnel. After letting go of the pier he slid for a few seconds in a tight, pitch black tunnel. He was unable to move, could only trust that he would hit solid ground.

The tight space and slow decent suddenly became wide open space and free-fall. He just barely managed to right himself before hitting the floor. His wounded arm screamed with pain. A light floated a few feet away, illuminating Nikki's face and a little of the surrounding area. They were in a tunnel that was about six feet in diameter. The walls were wet and dripping. Wolf had to hunch forward just to stand, and he could feel the grimy water soaking into his fur. Nikki was of slight build and a little over five feet, so the confines didn't bother her.

"It took us a good hour to fix your arm, so King should be far enough ahead that he won't see us coming. Let's make tracks." She turned and started to head down the very center of the tunnel. Wolf had to walk behind her, for the tunnel was a perfect circle and had no real floor. It looked almost like some kind of pipeline that had never been finished.

"Do you think that they made this just for King?" Wolf asked, trying not to impressed.

"I wouldn't put it past them." She glanced around the small tunnel. "This explains how King comes and goes without being seen."

"Still, it must take hours to get back and forth."

Nikki nodded. That thought settled like a cloud on them. Hours to cross the sea and get to Sloan. Did she have hours? If they were already turning Sloan into an Unnatural, how long would the procedure take? Nicola couldn't remember what the procedure was like. They wiped the memories of all Spec Ops units to make sure they had nothing to go back to, nothing to make them waver on the path of death they were meant for. All she could remember was pain. Indescribable, life ending pain that made a person beg for death. Pain that she was sure Sloan was going through that very second.

Nicola began to run.

XxX

It was easy to lose track of time in the darkness. It was the exact same view over and over again, so she almost didn't notice when the knock of boots on stone changed to the clang of metal. It was Wolf that stopped her and pointed at the ground, signifying that they were getting close. Nikki shook her head yes and began to creep forward, her footfalls making no sound on the plated metal beneath her. Eventually the tunnel began to slope slowly upwards, the floor flattening as it levelled out again in front of a massive, circular door. Nikki stopped Wolf, gesturing to the motion indicators on either side of the door. Wolf leaned into her.

"Let's pray there's no one on the other side," and he took the first step forward into the detector's line of sight. There was a heavy noise as a lock disengaged. The door fell slightly, then split in two and rolled back in either direction to let them through. They were inside the base.

Though Wolf was still tired from his excursion into Regis King's mind, he tried to muster up the strength to send his out consciousness out again. This time he hoped to connect with Sloan and find her position.

It backfired horribly. As soon as he tried to reach out, he was met by a wall of screams and tortured souls. The energy he was struck with was powerful enough to knock him off his feet.

"Guess we'll have to do it the old fashioned way," he growled. Nikki was staring at him confused, but she decided not to ask questions.

"Sloan will already be in the middle of her procedure. If we don't get there before her programs are downloaded and brought online, we've lost her."

"It would help if we knew where the hell we were." They were in a vast, dark room with high ceilings. It was strewn with the occasional stack of crates. The emblem on it was one that Wolf had never seen before. It was a blood red diamond, with a stylized RG on it that followed the lines of the diamond. It didn't take much to figure out who the emblem belonged to. He took a few seconds to commit it to memory, then turned towards the only way out of the room: a thin set of corrugated steel steps leading up to the next floor. He listened, but could hear no footsteps. Waving Nicola forward, he unholstered the only weapon he had, a hopelessly inadequate projectile pistol, and started up the stairs. His ears were straining to catch any sound, but it was all strangely quiet. Nikki was bothered by the silence too. No sounds, no smells, nothing to indicate that another living thing resided on the base. He knelt down a few steps from the top of the stairs and looked around, holding up a closed fist. Nikki froze in place.

At the top of the stairs was a long hallway that went on out of sight off to the left. To the right it ended in a heavy steel door. Wolf didn't give himself time to mull it over, he waved Nicola forward, pointing to the door. Nikki slipped past him, silent as death, and pressed herself to the wall beside the door. There was no lock on the door, no security features at all. This seemed to be the theme, because Wolf had noticed a distinct lack of surveillance cameras. He came forward and put his free hand on the latch to open the door. He glanced at Nicola's empty hands. Nikki replied by flicking back her coat, revealing the serrated blades that she had used before. They would come out when it was time. She nodded for him to open the door.

The opening of the door brought a wave of heat, stink, and sound that washed over the two of them. Wolf recognized the hallway as the one that he'd seen in King's mind. He crept in, and recognized the boy in the closest cell. He turned to look down the hallway, his heart pounding, but the dark outline of Sloan was no longer in the hallway. There was however an angry shout as two guards saw him in the hallway. He was thrown against the nearest cell as a plasma bolt went whistling past his head. It was so close the fur on his ear tips sizzled. He brought his own weapon to bear, but was afraid to shoot for fear of striking on of the children in the prisons. The guards did not take such precautions. The metal bars hissed as they were melted by plasma.

One of the guards made a choking noise and toppled. The second one squawked in surprise, and Wolf took that chance to put three rounds into him. The man collapsed.

None of the people still alive dared to make a sound. The silence was enough to make Wolf's ears pop. Nikki strode through the door as if nothing had happened, right up to one of the dead guards. She grasped the hilt of a blade that was sunk into the man's neck and wrenched it out. She held her second blade, the longer one, in the other hand. A gurgling noise came from the wound, along with blood. The body rolled over onto its face, undeniably dead. Wolf couldn't help but be impressed by the incredible precision it would have taken to kill the man from opposite sides of the long hall. Nikki turned to him calmly, her eyes cooling, become less a person, more animal-like. The façade she had created was beginning to fall away.

"Lead and I will follow," she rasped. The only problem was that Wolf wasn't sure where to go. He ran down the hall, looking desperately for a way to move forward. He was starting to think he'd reached a dead end when he found a door hidden in a recess between the prisons. He was sure this was the right track, because the door was locked. He relayed this information to Nikki, who came with the card from one of the guards. He slipped it through, and it unlocked. Wolf snarled to himself as he threw the door open. It was all too easy. Could Red Generation really be so arrogant that they'd think they need no security?

Their lack of fortifications was a testament to the fear surrounding the place. No one went in or out without their knowledge, and everyone stayed away because they cared more about there own lives than what was happening behind the base's closed doors.

He was confronted by another dark staircase. This one was solid steel steps that were scuffed and worn from use. Wolf walked slowly closer, inspecting the dark drops that were on each step. The whole stairwell smelled of a scent Wolf knew well, and had been hoping to catch. Staring into the darkness above, he vaulted up the steps, two at a time. The fresh scent made his veins pulse with adrenaline. They were getting so close.

He burst through the door at the top of the steps. There was nothing except a very short, grey hallway. The only thing in the hallway was a door. It was thick, and looked to be reinforced, with three locks on it. There was a light above the door that was lit red.

"We need to get in that room."

Just as Nicola stated what Wolf already knew, a bone-chilling scream erupted from behind the door. As tortured as the voice was, Wolf recognized it immediately.

"Sloan!"


	7. Chapter 7

Sloan's scream echoed in Wolf's ears. He had to get inside, but the security, for once, was too tight. He threw himself into the door, but it refused to even budge.

"Move out of the way," Nicola said, her voice calm. Wolf looked at her like she was mad, but obliged. She stared at the door for a few seconds, as if she was going to crush it with her mind, then coiled up like a spring and launched herself at the door.

Where Wolf couldn't even scratch it, it buckled. There were dents in the floor where she had pushed off. She stepped back, and threw herself at it again. It bent nearly in half. One more thrust sent it flying into the room. There were cries of fear and shock. Wolf watched as the yellow-eyed, super strong monster that was once Nicola turned with her blades and dived out of sight. Screams of pain and the sound of ripping flesh poured from the room that was hidden from view. Wolf rushed in, and found a blood soaked Nikki knelt over a large chair. The bodies of two men in lab coats were piled in a corner, coats no longer white.

Wolf could barely recognize the creature that was strapped into the chair. It was a human, a female by the looks of it. Her head was shaved, and the right side of her face was beaten badly and swollen out of recognition. Her arms were white and pale and covered in soars inches across. There was a syringe hovering inches away from her neck. Wolf reached over and broke off the metal needle. He stared dumbstruck at the tortured creature before him. She was totally unrecognizable, but the scent was too familiar to be confused.

"Sloan?"

The creature turned her head slightly, her bleary right eye slowly focussing with her left. After realizing who was talking to her, a moan escaped her cracked lips, and she tried to raise her arm to touch his face. Her gesture was stopped by the thick leather restraints that were tightly secured around her wrists and ankles. Wolf tried to cradle her head, but his fingers caught on something sticking into the base of her skull. He lifted her gently, and realized that she was plugged directly into the chair via a stinger to her brain stem. Nicola was standing next to a touch screen computer, trying to figure out how to disengage the stinger. She stood for what seemed like ages to Wolf, tapping buttons. Finally, she turned to him.

"They've already started downloading her programs, we can't disengage. And if we don't get it out, the programs will override her mind."

"So what do we do?" Wolf asked, exasperated. Nikki looked on Sloan with icy eyes.

"Pull it."

"But if I do, she might die."

"And if you don't pull it, she will die. I can see your options, now _pull it_!"

Wolf hesitated for a moment, then sadly looked at Sloan.

"Sloan, please forgive me." And without further hesitation, he grabbed the stinger and ripped it out of her head. Sloan screamed in agony, body bucking against the restraints as it convulsed, her cries still echoing in the tiny room. Blood poured from the wound. Red lights began to flash, and a siren sounded.

"If they didn't know we were here before, they know now," Nikki remarked grimly. Wolf was barely listening to her. The blood coming from the back of Sloan's neck was incredible, already covering Wolf's hands and the headrest of the chair. She had gone limp, and he wasn't even sure if he was alive. He looked desperately to Nikki, but there was no comfort in her eyes.

Both there heads turned towards noise in the stairwell. Nikki walked purposefully, blades clasped tightly in her hands. Wolf hurried to release Sloan's arms and legs from the chair, then gathered her tiny body up in his arms and followed Nikki's path to the threshold of the room. She was standing in full view of the stairs, listening to the onrush of soldiers cry out as they saw her. She paused for a few seconds, then leapt on them like a wild beast leaps on a rabbit. Even with their guns against her small blades, they were helpless.

"Wolf, what are you waiting for, come on!"

Wolf ran behind her, ignoring the gore around him like he had trained himself to do. His fear was subsiding as he forced it back down. This was a mission, there was no time for fear. He shut out the warm, wet feeling of his hands covered in Sloan's blood. Nicola was looking for an exit, but Wolf already knew where he was going. He turned a sharp right in the prison hall and went for the door with the window. He knew that he couldn't jump from so high up, but he was sure there would be some means of escape. Nicola didn't question is decision.

He busted through the door with his shoulder. Revisited by the view of the water, he looked around for any escape. The answer was a thin steel ladder leading down to a bridge and another part of the complex. It looked to be a hanger of some kind, and Wolf prayed there was a ship left for him to steal. Turning Sloan so he could carry her with one arm, he slid down the ladder. Nicola didn't bother with it at all, jumping and landing next to him.

The usually troubled sea had become enraged while they were inside. Wind howled, whipping at the three of them. It tore at the surface of the water and send huge waves crashing over the bridge. Wolf gritted his teeth; it would only take one of the huge waves to wash them over the side. He held the trembling creature in his arms just a little closer. Alarm shot through him as he realized how cold Sloan had become.

"There has to be another way," Nikki told him. He shook his head.

"We go," and he started forward. Nicola had no choice but to follow.

The first wave sent Wolf crashing into the low hand guard, nearly sending him right over the side of the bridge. Ignoring the pain in his shoulder, he continued forward, but it was slow. Every few seconds he was thrown off his feet. It wasn't long before he lost the feeling in his left side, where he was continually slammed into the metal barrier. The sub-zero chill of the water numbed him to the point where he could barely think. He almost didn't notice Nicola's hand on his arm as she tried to get his attention. The side of her face was bleeding from where she had hit the railing.

"What?" Wolf cried over the scream of the wind.

"We need to move faster!"

"I can't, these waves!"

Nikki answered him by pointing back the way they had come. They had made terrifyingly little progress, but that wasn't the worst part. A figure could be seen in the shadows of the base, just out of the reach of the wind and water. It was being circled by two dog-shaped silhouettes the size of Saint Bernards.

"King," Wolf realized. He was staring out at them with rage in his eyes. There was no trace of the pleasant persona he put on for people outside his circle of control. This was King the way Sloan had always known him; cold, brutal, and merciless. Nikki returned the hateful glare.

"You go, I'll hold him off," she told Wolf.

"Not a chance in hell. Besides, he won't come out here."

"But those hounds will."

"We'll get to that when they get to us." Wolf turned away before Nikki could reply, not willing to waste any more time arguing. He moved faster than was safe, staying up against the guardrail so he wouldn't lose his footing when the water hit him. Nothing but sheer willpower kept his feet on the deck and not sucked over the edge. Nicola wasn't making as good a time, watching for King and his hounds as she moved. Wolf couldn't watch, his eyes were glued on the door to inside the hanger. It had gotten steadily closer as he crawled forward, and he refused to take his eyes off of it. He was muttering as he ran, telling Sloan to hang on, that it was going to be okay.

A shadow slowly crept over him. It took him a few seconds to realize its presence, and his noticing of it brought his head up, out of eye-shot of his precious door. What he saw nearly froze him in place. A wave towered above them, so high Wolf had to crane his neck to see the tip of it. It lingered at its full height for a few seconds, then gravity took its toll, and it began its rampage towards the bridge.

Everything moved in slow motion. Wolf threw himself out of the way, wrapping himself around a support right next to the door to the hanger. He had a few seconds of complete silence. No wind, no waves, just a sudden night. He could hear the blood pumping in his ears. Then the wave finally hit.

It felt like he had just been struck by a Landmaster. He felt his bones crack under the pressure of the rushing water. The roar was unreal. He could feel the water plucking at him as he clung to the support, at his fingers as he held Sloan for dear life. He tightened his grip, refusing to let go.

Then, it was over. He was dropped on the metal floor, coughing and sputtering. Sloan was gagging from the water that had suddenly filled her lungs. He was glad at least to see that she was still alive.

"Nicola?" He called, looking around his immediate vicinity, but there was no Nikki. Had she been swept away? He looked out onto the bridge and saw a small figure, fighting to regain her feet. Her arms were wrapped around the railing, and that's what had saved her. One of King's dogs was circling and biting at her, then jumping out of the way before she could strike back. The other was a few feet away, shaking its head like it was trying to dislodge some annoyance. Wolf reached for his pistol, but found an empty holster. He growled angrily.

"Nikki!" He yelled. Her head rose in the distance. She tried to signal for him to leave her, but he pretended not to see. He held up Sloan's limp body. It had the affect he had hoped, she seemed to gain back some of the Unnatural prowess the wave had knocked out of her. The next time the hound leaped for her, she moved her head fast enough to make it miss. It landed expertly and turned for another run, but this time if it wanted to strike Nikki, it was going to have to catch her. She ran directly down the middle of the bridge, completely unhindered by the conditions. Every time a wave broke, she always seemed to be ahead of it, just out of its reach. She landed next to Wolf with the expertness of a world class gymnast and wrenched the door open.

"Go! Sloan won't last much longer!"

Wolf was more than happy to oblige. Nicola slammed the door after they were safely inside. If the razorhounds wanted them, their master was going to have to come along. They had only one option, go with whatever was at the end of the dark hallway they were in. They charged down it with breakneck speed, racing the clock. Wolf was wondering if they could even take off in such turbulent weather, but even as he thought it he knew that he would take off in anything if meant getting away from this place.

The hallway ended in a caged in lift that would take them across the incredible expanse that was the base's hanger. It looked big enough to hold dozens of capital ships without any trouble at all. The battleships were all deployed, however, leaving a cavernous drop where In their place. Wolf stepped into the lift that would and studied the controls.

"It looks like we need some kind of fingerprint analysis," Wolf reported.

"Shit. We need to get this thing moving."

"Okay, give me a second and I may be able to bypass the security feature." He knelt down inside the lift and pulled the panel off the control consol.

"Whatever you do, make it fast, I have a feeling that we're going to have company soon."

Wolf didn't answer, just started working. He knew she was right, he could feel King's presence getting closer, eager to fulfill his promise of death. He cussed angrily as he was shocked. His fingers were wet, not very good for working with wires pulsing with electricity. He stripped a wire of its casing, touched to cut ends together. Sparks lit up inside the casing.

"Hurry Wolf."

"I'm hurrying!" He heard the sound of the door opening. Light trickled in from the other end of the hall. A shock went through his body that wasn't from the wires. He redoubled his efforts. Footsteps echoed in the long hallway. There was a tinny sound as Nikki pulled one blade from its sheath. More wires, more sparks. A red light turned green.

"Wolf," Nikki urged again. The control consol lit up.

"I got it!" he called triumphantly. The gate clanged across with the sound of a guillotine. Wolf whipped around to find Nikki on the wrong side of it.

"Nicola, what are you doing?! We don't have time to screw around like this!"

Nikki stared at him calmly, leaning all her weight on the bars. Despite the definite size difference, Wolf could not overpower her and force open the gate.

"This is the end of the line for me."

"No! You can't, Sloan… Sloan needs you!"

"No, Sloan needs you." A little smile lit her face. "I remember the first time I laid eyes on her. As soon as I did I knew I was going to protect her with everything I had." She reached through the bars and gently touched Sloan's bald head. She stirred a little, but didn't regain consciousness. "I took care of her when no one else could, or would…" Her hand slipped away from Sloan. She glanced behind her, all too aware of the coming threat.

"But all that is over now. Nicola is dead, and all that's left is the monster they left in her place. No matter how hard I fight it, the monster is going to win. I can't protect Sloan for much longer, so I'm going to die fighting for her. And then you'll take up where I left off."

"Please, Nikki…"

"You've been chosen, Wolf, just like I was, chosen by fate. I have a dying wish, and a noble man like you has to honour it. I want you to watch over her. You're the only one who can keep the wolves at bay."

Wolf unconsciously pressed Sloan closer to his chest.

"Nicola, don't talk like this, Sloan need her sister."

"No she needs a father!" Nikki cried. "I'll do nothing but destroy her, if I don't destroy myself first. I've been thinking about this for a long time, but I could never end things on my own. I'm a warrior now, I must die in battle." Her eyes set on Sloan one last time, now blazing like molten gold, so strongly they glowed in the half-light. The vivid colour told the world that she had allowed her Unnatural side to awaken completely and take over. "This is one battle I would gladly die for."

The sound of metal talons on metal and the mechanical baying drew Nikki's –or rather, Eclipse's- attention. Wolf could see red eyes gleaming in the passage. An evil smile grew on Eclipse's lips.

"This is my beautiful death. Remember my dying wish, Wolf, honour it. You're the only one who can." And with that she turned away for the last time, blade out, ready to face an enemy she couldn't possibly defeat. Wolf wanted to speak, to tell her not to throw her life away, but he knew it was too late. He turned to the control consol, punching the button that would start the lift and send him on his way to freedom.

"Wolf!" Nikki cried as the lift dislodge. Wolf came as close to her as the bars would allow. "Don't let her become like me."

Wolf didn't answer, he didn't need to. This would never happen to Sloan, even if he too had to die to make it so.

The lift was less than ten feet away when the razorhounds came from the darkness into view. The lift moved fast, but not fast enough to save Wolf's ears from the horrible sound of metal tearing into flesh. No cry followed the drops of blood that spattered Wolf's coat. He held Sloan close, praying that she was too far gone to have heard the noise.


	8. Chapter 8

After the Capital Ship beds ended, the hanger became an extremely high ceilinged, dome shaped room. It was dim, since the only light came from a ring of windows near the very top of the roof. The light from them made a glowing circle in the centre of the floor like some ritual space. The gloominess was impressive, and the rest of the room quickly disappeared into the greyness of shadows. In the barely seen corners of the room debris were strewn about as if a ship had just recently been cannibalized. Wolf wondered if maybe this was a maintenance bay. The hanger was empty of working ships but there were two enormous bay doors on the other side of the room that he expected opened to the second part, which would house the smaller vessels.

The lift engaged a platform that sprouted up form the floor close to where the light circle was cast. The cage on the lift's opposite side opened. Wolf stepped out cautiously, his footsteps echoing incredibly loud. The lift closed of its own accord and disengaged the platform, shooting first upwards, then back. Wolf knew that it was going back for King.

Tired, soaked to the bone, and a lot of pain, Wolf decided to take his time investigating. It would take the lift a decent amount of time to get back to the hall, and even longer to get to the hanger again. Sloan was moving a little in his arms, and that eased him a little bit, to know that she was still okay.

The controls for the door lay right next to the doors. There was only two buttons on it, and a large red light that was currently gleaming red. He pushed a button, and the light turned green. The whole room vibrated as the two doors opened.

Wolf was greeted by the unwelcome feeling of untamed wind rushing against his fur and the sound of crashing waves. The bay doors didn't open on a second hanger, they opened out onto the sea. There was no ship to take, no escape. Wolf stood for a few seconds, watching the sea.

There was no despair to be found in him, only anger. King had taken him for a ride, not once, but _twice _in one week. They hadn't fought through the guards, the guards had let them go to a place where they would be cornered, and he had followed like a greenhorn. The blood spots on his coat felt like they were burning. The Unnatural, the one person who could even pose a threat to King, was dead. Was it all just part of his plan? They had both been so focussed on Sloan's condition they had forgotten all about King's love for mind games.

He heard the lift, it was on its way back. Off to his left was a pile of stray junk that looked like it had been used to fix a ship. It was more than large enough to hide a grown man. He slipped into it, hating the feeling of being the prey for a change, hating the feeling he had inflicted on so many others. He prayed the Sloan would not take this opportunity to start making noise.

The lift engaged again. Two razorhounds preceded their master, jumping out and prancing around like they were two lapdogs waiting to play.

_Yeah,_ thought Wolf,_ play something like 'Fetch the Enemy's Head'._ King's walk was no more purposeful. He looked like a boastful boy that had won a game.

"Wolf?" King's voice echoed as much Wolf's footsteps. It sounded to come from everywhere at once. Wolf just watched, making no sound. King took a few more steps forward. It would have been hard to see the hint of nerves in the man's movements, but Wolf read it loud and clear. He was afraid Wolf was going to jump him, even though the two hounds made it so that obviously wasn't an option. Once he was sure Wolf wasn't waiting in the wings with some clever plan, he laughed.

"Come on now, Wolf, this has gone on long enough. Is she really worth all of this?" Again, no answer. Wolf didn't even need answer that question. King continued on. "Listen, the way I see it, you have two choices. One; come out from wherever you're hiding and give us back the girl. If you make things easy on everyone, I'm sure I can arrange it so your death is entirely painless."

Wolf rolled his eyes, he had heard this shpeal one too many times. Maybe it was time for King to play some games that he wasn't in control of.

"Or, if you refuse this option-"

"Let me guess, you'll come find me, and I'll die a most horrible, painful death." Wolf's jeer sent King spinning, trying to distinguish the true voice from the echo.

"I'm sure one look at Sloan tells you I have an arsenal of ways to make you're life a living hell."

"Yes, I'm sure you'll have me _begging_ for death by the time you're done." A wicked, taunting laugh rose to fill the whole room, a laugh that did not belong to King. For all the games he dished out, it wasn't very good at playing the ones not of his own creation. He looked to be getting angry, like he couldn't fathom someone daring to play with him the way Wolf was. He snapped his fingers, and the dogs jumped into action searching the hanger.

"It's too bad, Wolf. You're an honourable man, a veritable knight of the round, but I'm afraid you've misplaced your valour."

One of the dogs was creeping ever closer to Wolf's position, but Wolf was too busy taunting King to notice until it was only a few feet away. he silenced himself immediately and tried to stay a still as possible. It turned its head slightly, looking over the pile. It was beginning to back away, when Sloan's body twitched. Only one, small twitch, but the hound whipped around and locked its eye with Wolf. The second eye was gone, punched through by Nikki's blade that was still lodged in its skull. At the same instant, King's head turned toward the junk heap, like he saw what the hound saw. Wolf sighed heavily.

"Alright, I'm coming out." He made a production out of wriggling out of the scrap, even though it was a simple enough process. He walked slowly, limping, while the hound followed at his heel. He was led into the middle of the circle of light from the windows. He squared himself with King, noticing their similarities in height in weight. Wolf wanted to drop Sloan and make a run for him, but one look at the razor sharp talons of the hounds told him that he would be fish food before taking a step.

"Put her down," King commanded. Wolf grudgingly obeyed. He knelt down and carefully laid Sloan down on the floor. His heart wrenched at the look on her face. She was conscious enough to realize what was going on. Her thin arms clung to Wolf's forearm, begging not to be left. The hounds crept slowly closer, until their gleaming teeth were inches away from Wolf's head. Wolf knew their intent: playtime.

"I thought you said my death would be painless if I gave up Sloan without a fight."

"Yes, but that doesn't mean that your body will be respected in death." King raised his hand, but it was the snap of Wolf's fingers that echoed through the room.

A wise man once said that weak minds were easily turned to evil, and that machine minds were the weakest of all. True, a weak mind can easily be turned, but not only to evil. The outcome depends on the will of the stronger mind. The razorhounds might have been King's personal machines, but they were still only machines. It had taken almost as much pushing to take over their minds as it had the mind of their master, but with his powers Wolf manage to gain control of their circuits. When he had snapped his fingers, their trained call to attack, they had leapt into action the same way they would have if it was King's hand.

The difference: This time it was King that was the target. He snarled in anger as the two hounds jumped on him. Wolf snatched up Sloan again and raced from the light. Still, there was the problem of an escape route, he couldn't go back the way he'd come, there were surely guards waiting for him in the base.

The sound of crashing waves broke into Wolf's adrenaline-driven mind. He turned to the still open hanger doors. The waves outside were hungry and grabbing, and it was pelting down rain. It took Wolf less than a second to make up his mind.

"Sloan."

She had been looking in the same direction as him. She looked into his eyes for a moment with an unreadable expression, then wrapped her arms around his neck. He took it as a sign, and ran for the doors. He stopped for a second at the very edge, admiring the awesome power that he was about to offer himself to. He didn't give himself a chance to hesitate any longer than that, throwing himself into the murderous sea.

His breath was knocked out of him as he hit the water. The cold struck him so hard he shorted out for a moment, floating dazed in the water, then he drew a breath of water and remembered the need to get his head above the waves. He heard Sloan gasp as he broke the water, fighting to continue pulling air into her lungs despite the crushing cold all around her.

The strong current had already pulled them away from the base. King was nowhere to be seen, but Wolf wasn't ready to sign off on him just yet. He shed his heavy coat and pack, trying to get more buoyant. Sloan had already lost her strength, and he was using one arm to hold her. It was almost impossible to keep his head above the surface, so he decided to let himself float just below the water, then come up for air when he needed it. He balanced Sloan against him so that her head could stay above the entire time.

They had been floating for about an hour when Wolf noticed the lighting up of the horizon. He stared for awhile, not able to believe that they had really spent all night in that horrible place. He smiled a little. The darkest hour was coming to a close.

The sound of an engine set him on edge again. He checked every direction, thinking that the ship was one from Red Gen that was coming to kill them. His comm. crackled and sputtered, but it was full of water and he had no idea what the person on the other end was trying to say. Sloan grunted something, and Wolf turned to look over the shoulder she had been looking over. He nearly died when he saw a sleek, black, two man fighter coming towards him with a red rose painted on its hull.

"Panther!" Wolf screamed, throwing his hand up to get his attention. His actions dunked him momentarily under the water, and when he resurfaced, the Wolfen was hovering slightly to the right of them. A thin hand gloved in midnight blue reached for him.

"Wolf!" Leon called. Wolf held Sloan up for him to take. Leon hesitated for a moment, as if he was going to refuse her, then he saw the look on Wolf's battered face and wrapped his arm around her waist, hauling her onto the wing of the Wolfen. Wolf saw the canopy open, and Sloan was deposited into the second seat of the warm cockpit. Wolf swam to the other side of the Wolfen and pulled himself up between the wing and the gravity blade, crashing down on the top wing closest to the cockpit. His fingers were so cold he could barely manage to hold on.

"How?" He cried over the roar of the engines.

"You floated into the range of Sabre's scan!" Leon called back. "We picked up your comm. signal." Wolf nodded and rested his head on the side of the ship, then pulled himself back up to kneeling. He wouldn't allow himself to fall asleep, but god, he was so tired. The whole night had seemed like a marathon. He was glad when the mainland finally came into view. Panther expertly piloted his Wolfen, keeping it flat while landing so that he didn't lose any of his precious cargo.

Xannon, Sabre, and Cresenda were waiting for them on the staging area. They had cleared off to give Panther space to land, but had come crowding back again. They jumped on him with a flurry of questions. Where did you go? How could you just leave? Where is Sloan? Are you all right? Wolf threw his hand up to stop them as the canopy opened. He jumped onto the wing and reached in to pull Sloan out.

Everyone gasped when they saw her. Her face was pale, and she was very cold. She had stopped shivering, and her eyes were closed. A fearful silence descended on the group.

"Sloan?" Wolf said quietly. "Sloan!" He put his ear to her heart, checked for a pulse. "Sloan! Oh my god, no!" Sabre disappeared, running for a medic while Wolf shook the broken girl in his arms, begging her to wake up.


	9. Chapter 9

A/N: Hello everyone. Welcome to the last chapter of the last fic of my very first trilogy!!! Thank you so much for your reviews and support, and I really hope to see all of you back plus for my next fic, Oban Sarr.

Elise was a nicer planet than Wolf had first thought. It was close to Outlander space, but that hadn't taken a toll on it at all. It was lush and green with life. The villa they were hiding out in was acres and acres of deciduous forest, pristine lakes, and rolling meadows. Morning was crisp and clear, with the bright sun glittering on wet leaves and dew captured on fields of grass. It was a nice change from the choking pollution of Berman.

Wolf was standing out on the second storey balcony, watching a gaggle of kids messing around in a small pond near a recently erected playset. He really couldn't call it playing, because they didn't know quite how to do that yet, but they looked to be enjoying themselves. It was early, and everything was bright and clean with the promise of a new day. It made Wolf smile. He was still wearing civilian clothes, even though his own had long ago dried out. The planet made him not want to be a mercenary, to just be Wolf for awhile.

Xannon appeared next to him, carrying a small bouquet of brightly coloured flowers. She was back in her body armour, and her hair was drawn back by a pair of carved wooden clasps.

"Are you ready?" she asked brightly, although her smile was sad. Wolf nodded, holding out his own flowers. They were little while and purple wild flowers that he had found on a hillside. They weren't really anything special, but they seemed right to him. He motioned to the stairs down to the ground floor.

"Ladies first."

"Always the gentleman." They decided to go the back way, because Xannon didn't want to bother any of the children. They had a tendency to put down what they were doing to come see her. The walk was along a dirt path, and took them parallel to an old stone fence. They were silent as they walked, enjoying the sights and sounds of nature.

After about a twenty minute walk, the road turned through a separation in the fence, and was lost in a field of tall grass. Xannon took the lead, and Wolf followed her into the forest. Not too far in was a small clearing ringed with tress. The canopy had broken there, allowing light to populate the ground floor with small flowers and grass. It was cool and smelled sweet.

"It's nice, very peaceful," Wolf commented approvingly. "I think she would've liked it." Sitting in the sun with the flowers and the grass was a small headstone. Wolf and Xannon walked carefully up to it, taking care not to disturb the little haven. They stood before the stone, smiling through the pain.

"I saw this place and I thought of her. I thought after all she went though, it'd be nice for her to have a quiet rest, away from everyone."

"And they can come see her when they want, the path comes right here."

Xannon's lips trembled, and Wolf touched her arm. She fought back the tears and smiled at him.

"It's okay, it's okay, I just miss her. She was too young to die the way she did."

"I know… I wish I could have done more."

"I don't think you could have."

The two returned to silently staring at the stone, thinking back to that terrible night. They felt the wind on their backs and thought they felt a ghostly touch.

"I guess I better be getting back. Don't want her waking up if I'm not there."

"I'm going to stay here for awhile," Xannon decided.

"Are you sure you're going to be okay out here alone? I can stay if you want me to."

"No, no it's okay. She needs you more than me."

"Okay." Wolf knelt down and placed his small bouquet at the foot of the stone. He took a moment to read the inscription again:

Rest in Peace

Nicola Savage

Aged 21 years

"The song has ended, but the melody lingers on"

"It's a nice inscription."

"She really liked music, wanted to learn to play…" Xannon choked, and Wolf decided she needed some time alone. He placed a hand on her shoulder to comfort her, then left the clearing and walked back to the house, hands in his pockets. He kept replaying the events of that night in his mind, trying to figure out what he could have done differently. The same answer always came to his mind, nothing. True, he should have figured out that he was being tricked, but there still was no other way forward than the one they chose. He looked up into the blue, nearly cloudless sky, and wonder if Nikki ever got a chance to do the same, to really appreciate a thing as small as a warm day.

He went in the back door, and took the stairs up to the second floor. He opened the second door to his right, and was relieved to see the occupant sleeping peacefully. Panther was standing next to the bed, watching her sleep.

"Did she wake?" Wolf asked quietly. Panther shook his head no, and left the room, closing the door behind him. Wolf took his place in the rocking chair next to the bed. He felt a little ridiculous sitting in it, but it was the only chair in the room. He watched Sloan's face for a little while. The swelling had gone down a lot, and there was some black stubble growing back in on her head.

When they had returned to the _Nicell_, Sloan had slipped into a coma, which she stayed in for three days, then she had come out of it into a resting sleep. She had not actually woken up in the week it had been since her rescue. After deciding she was most certainly asleep, Wolf picked up the book lying on the shelf next to him. He had gone through two books as he waited for her to wake, and no matter what, he would be there when she did.

XxX

Sloan was floating. There was nothing under her, above her, or around her, just white clouds everywhere. After a little while, she realized that she was slowly going down. She tried to orient herself so that she could see what was going on, but it was impossible to move.

Her feet suddenly touched solid ground. Or rather, solid cloud. The rest of them lifted, revealing and endless plane. Directly in front of her and on either side were antique full length mirrors, three in total. The one directly in front reflected her the way she was, battered and broken. The ones on either side confused her. It looked like her, but it wasn't.

The one to her left was a tall woman, at least ten years older that Sloan. Her hair was black and cropped short. Her face had a cold look on it, but her eyes couldn't quite project the same look, letting a little of her wild nature shine through. She was dressed for field work, complete with weapons and an emergency kit. Behind her, Sloan was sure she could see the faintest outline of Wolf.

The one to the right told a different tale. In body the two women looked the same. Tall and lean and beautiful, but instead of clothes the woman on the right wore black body armour. It was spiked and looked like it was adorned with rose thorns. Her face was devoid of all emotion. Her eyes had faded to grey, and looked more like things belonging to a machine than to a human.

"What is this?" She asked herself.

"It's Huntress," the Sloan in the first mirror told her. "The one in armour is the person who King wanted you to become. The other one is the person that you want to be. They are both within you now, two side of the same coin. For the rest of your life you will have to fight the programs that King put in you." Mirror Sloan smiled. "But don't worry, I have faith in you, and you won't be alone anymore."

The face morphed from confidence to utter confusion, and Sloan realized that it was mirroring her again. She turned to Huntress.

"So he almost made it. Dammit, I did it again, I made Wolf come save me." Anger bubbled up in her chest. "Never again. I'm not going to be a weight on Wolf's shoulders. So King gave me these programs, then I'm going to use them to get stronger. No one is ever going to save me again!" She wound up and punched the mirror with everything she had. Huntress stared angrily at her for a moment, then Sloan's fist made contact and she shattered into a million pieces.

A soft golden light poured out from the mirror, slowly widening to fill her field of view. Crosshairs appeared in the middle of the light, and it took Sloan a few seconds to realize that it was the cross beams in a window, and the light pouring through was sunlight. She was lying on a feather bed, underneath an old, heavy quilt that someone had made by hand. The room was about the size of her quarters on the _Nicell_, and one wall was lined with hip level shelves. There was a wooden desk closest to the window, and it had paper and pencil on it instead of the usual computer attachments.

Closer to her was a rocking chair occupied by a sleeping wolf. He was wearing very dark blue jeans and a loose black shirt that cut low and showed off his chest. There was a book cracked open in his hands. Seeing Wolf dressed in street clothes was more jarring than the drastic change her environment had taken since she had last been awake. Lying with his head back, the golden half-light giving him a slight glow, he no longer looked like the hard, aloof leader of the most dangerous mercenary team in the galaxy. He looked like just another Joe Shmoe walking down the street, and that was scary. There wasn't even the cybernetic eye patch to hint at his more eventful life, because it had been taken off for repairs.

Sloan tried to call his name, but all she managed was a raspy gurgle of noise. She tried to reach out for him, but she was so weak that the weight of the quilt kept her pinned. She tried to call him again.

"Wouh… Wol…"

His eyes flickered open. He looked around for the source of the noise. Once his eyes settled on her, his face brightened immensely. He put the book down and leaned forward, placing a hand on her shoulder.

"Hey, nice to see you back in the land of the living. How are you feeling?"

Sloan answered with a groan. The smile on Wolf's face grew. Sloan felt like the sun had just come out to shine on her. Wolf got up and crossed the room to the water pitcher, poured a glass, and brought it back, holding it to Sloan's cracked lips so that she could take a drink.

"How long…" she rasped, barely audible.

"Were you out?"

Sloan shook her head. "You… here?"

Wolf smiled and looked away, but Sloan still noted the hint of embarrassment on his face.

"The whole time. I didn't want you to wake up and there be nobody here. Besides, I… I have to talk to you," he told her. Sloan looked at him expectantly. Wolf thought of all the things that had happened, of Nikki, of the blame that was his. "But maybe that should all wait awhile. Get some more rest, and I'll go down and see if I can't scare up something for you to eat." Sloan nodded weakly, having no strength with which to disagree. Wolf drew the covers up around her and left, lingering at the threshold.

Xannon was down in the kitchen when he arrived. She looked like she had done a lot of crying. She noticed the beaming look on Wolf's face and she smiled too.

"Sloan must be awake."

"Yeah, I came down to get her something."

"She must be very hungry, it's been so long since she last ate."

"Mhmn." An awkward pause settled around the two of them, and they turned quickly back to the reasons they were there. They stood on either side of the island, smiling whenever they caught each others eye. Wolf was glad when he had put together a plate to take back upstairs. He nodded to his long time friend and headed back to the stairs. He placed his hand on the railing to steady himself as he went back upstairs.

A hand fell over his. He looked up in surprise to find Xannon looking at him like she had the weight of the world on her shoulders. In a way she did.

"So I guess you'll be going home soon, now that Sloan's conscious?"

"A few more days, to let her gather her strength, then we'll be heading out. God, I can't wait to get home."

"What about Sloan? Is she going home too?"

Wolf thought about this question for a moment. Then the memory of the picture in his pocket swelled up in his mind. It made him smile. The house, the people, everything was perfect to him. But one thing was different. Standing between the mother and the father was a young human girl with raven black hair and almond coloured eyes. Like everyone else in the photo, she was beaming. The image made Wolf laugh for real, not the fake ones they had been trading in the kitchen.

"Yes, Sloan gets to go home, too."


End file.
